Accenture Interactive Services launches to help navigate complexity of digital media landscape

Accenture is increasing its focus and investment in the programmatic in-housing and media planning and buying arena with Accenture Interactive Programmatic Services. Accenture Interactive is helping clients navigate the complexity of the digital media landscape by empowering them to take control and ownership of their data and technology, providing them with greater transparency and enabling them to regain trust.

This enhanced capability is designed to help marketers achieve greater business outcomes, enable cost transparency, regain control and ownership of their data, and design audience-driven campaigns. Accenture Interactive can help design, build and staff in-house trading desk capabilities, or run full service global digital media campaigns for clients.

Accenture Interactive Programmatic Services includes three core services:

· Programmatic Consulting and In-housing helps advertisers take back control of their media capabilities. This involves building long-term programmatic strategies, in-sourcing technology, reinventing operating models and delivering internal capabilities.

· Media Strategy, Planning & Activation helps advertisers drive superior business outcomes by better serving their audiences, running transparent and scaled paid media campaigns across search, social, video, display and more.

· Ad Tech Implementation & Support helps advertisers deliver flawless experiences at scale and speed with the power of our global network – operating business processes and providing infrastructure as-a-service.

Says Brian Whipple, global CEO of Accenture Interactive: “As their experience agency, our clients have been asking us to help them drive greater efficiencies with their programmatic media spend, specifically digital media. Consistent with our mission to create, build and run the best customer experiences on the planet, we are enhancing Accenture Interactive Programmatic Services to complement our full suite of experience services. We are already focused on all the pieces that are related to media placement so it was a natural extension for us to help our clients deliver more hyper-relevant customer experiences through digital media.”

According to research entitled “Programmatic In-housing: Benefits, Challenges and Key Steps to Building Internal Capability,” released yesterday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and its Data Centre of Excellence with the support of Accenture Interactive, 65 percent of companies that are buying media programmatically, have brought that capability in house. The report finds that marketers who purchase digital ads programmatically have either completely moved programmatic buying in-house (18%) or have partially begun the process of internalising the function, with plans to continue further down the path (47%).

Says Scott Tieman, global lead of programmatic services, Accenture Interactive: “Advertisers are reacting to the changing media landscape and they want to move beyond the status quo and take back control of their media capability. We believe we can help our clients do things differently. Accenture Interactive has an offering that is highly differentiated in the market and is built on a foundation of trust and transparency. We have the ability to leverage Accenture’s global footprint and capabilities to integrate strategy, creative, data, technology and analytics together to drive superior results – a clear advantage for our clients.”

Accenture Interactive is collaborating with Accenture Operations to help drive efficiencies and transparency in media investment for some of the world’s most recognised brands across industries, including HP, Radisson Hotel Group and Melia Hotels.

Says Remy Merckx, vice president digital at Radisson Hotel Group: “We are very proud and looking forward to working with Accenture Interactive as our global digital media agency of record. As part of its five-year operating plan and a vision to become one of the top three hotel companies in the world, under the leadership of Federico J. González, Radisson Hotel Group needed a partner on a global scale to better manage its marketing and customer engagement activities aimed at creating memorable moments for our guests. Accenture Interactive has a proven track record to help businesses like us increase their ROI by instilling greater efficiencies and transparency into the programmatic media and marketing spend. We look forward to our journey together.”